Tuna fruit of the nopal

[navegator]

Tunas in Mexico are the fruits' of the nopal, the flat cactus with what looks as a construction disaster, leaves every ware that are grown in Mexico and the South and mid West of the United States, they come in three colors green, yellow and red they are used in salads or made into agua de tuna.

The tuna fruit has very small spines called "aguate" and they are nasty, if you purchase these at the Mercado have the vendor peel the tuna for you, they also sell the nopal leaf with the spines cut and it is also used in salads or cooked, I do not know how to prepare any of these, I am told that they are tricky to prepare but delicious to eat.

Tuna the fish is ATUN in Spanish and TUNA is the fruit so do not confuse them.

There is a passage in a song that says

Me he de comer una tuna, aunque me espine la mano

I will eat a tuna, even if I get thorns in my hand

This is for those of you that are adventuresome and are willing to try something very Mexicano, you might be able to find the tunas in the supermarkets in the USA, the tunas maybe in some markets.

Buen apetito!

navegator

[haciendacontrer]

The tuna, (prickly pear) is frequently served in our town peeled and sliced with lime juice and salt. Don't miss trying them because of the ajuahtes, (prickly things on the skin). Most of the tunas bought at the market have had the ajuates removed, if you pick them in the wild, roll them in the grass carefully before peeling. Chew the seeds softly, then swallow the seeds along with the fruit. Delicious and healthy.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

And to listen to the piropos (quips, remarks) was hilarious. Hissing (politer than a whistle), and in more prosperous towns it turned into Sunday night "cruising the main around the zocalo" in carachas (jalopies) camionetas (pickup trucks) with incredible numbers of youngsters inside on in the bed. Radios would be turned up to maximum distortion and furtive shave-and-a-haircut tapped out on a car horn led to one car dashing off with another in pursuit. Lucky for hapless residents and walkers alike there weren't that many motor vehicles at first.

Today I am sipping chilled jamaica tea fresh brewed from flowers, chilled to the mid thirties and reading these stories.

"Let's go get tunas!" Homero cried. Thirty minutes later I found myself in the middle of a Nopanal (field thick with nopal cactus) fighting a million yellowjackets for the fruit.

[profdant139]

When I was staying in Mexico in 1970 (!!), just after high school, I learned a saying:

Al nopal lo van a ver
Solo cuando tiene tunas.

They go see the prickly pear cactus
Only when it has prickly pears.

This is the context in which it was used: on Sundays, the young ladies of this small town would promenade in the plaza in one direction, and the young men in the opposite direction. (I don't know if this happens elsewhere, or how this got started, or if it still goes on.)

A group of not-so-young ladies joined the promenade -- these ladies were probably in their early 20s and still not married, a shocking situation at that time.

The young men paid attention to the teen-age girls but not to the "solteras" (old maids). Not a nice term, but that was the label that was used.

I was standing with a group of older men, who alerted me to what was going on. One of them trotted out that "dicho" (saying or proverb) about the tunas.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Another wonderful world. Thanks Navegator!

[navegator]

The nopales are also served with carne asada, they are slightly fried.

The agua de Jamaica is also very good for the urinary tract and kidneys, it helps when you have a mild urinary infection to clear it up, my wife swears by it rather than using antibiotics all the time.

To sweeten the agua de tuna and agua de Jamaica we use the jarabe de agabe, (agave syrup, from Costco) we use less, you need to use more sugar to get the same amount of sweetness as you with do with the agave.


EL NOPAL

Genus Opuntia
Family Cactaceae

Nopali means tree

Coznochnopali, the tuna is yellow inside.
Tlatocnochnopali, the tuna is reddish outside pink inside.
Cuicuilnochnopali, the tuna is red on the out side and purple inside, they are also called Tlazolnochnopali, they are round like little apples.
Then we have the Tlanexnopali, the fruit is the Tlanexnochtli and the fruit is purple and round.

There are a lot more nopales and tunas, these are just some of
the hundreds that grow all over the world.

navegator

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Another drink that is overlooked is agua miel.
Water honey
The base for pulque. The classic beverage of old Mexico. On major highways if you see young men standing on the shoulder surrounded by an assortment of reclaimed bottles, he is likely selling agua miel. It has to be kept refrigerated and even then has a shelf life of just a few days. Fermented agua miel is called pulque. But the fermentation is accompanied by exotic enhancers (whole sugar, raisins, chanting and strict exclusiveness that prohibits strangers from entering the building). Sweet pulque lasts about three days before turning decidedly sour. Endless experimentation still goes on to find a way to bottle this stuff -- the recipe would be the Holy Grail of pulque.

[ReneeG]

MEXICOWANDERER - thanks for the instructions. My dad used to do this with the pulp that surrounded cantaloupe seeds. It was the best, but I never paid attention. You're right about the light flavor and sweetness.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

They seem to be most popular in Aguas Frescas (Fresh Waters)

Blender-up a good mash of 5-6 tunas. Force the mash through one of those large screened filters popular for making cafe de la olla. You'll get some pulp residue.

The liquid goes into a 1 to 2 gallon drink dispenser. Add purified water. The taste should be light duty not intense.

Some folks just add a light amount of sugar to tone-up the taste a tad.

I use La Madrilena sugar syrup for a more refined taste.

This isn't supposed to end up a potent sugary mix. Very light taste with a touch a sweetness.

This recipe works for all fruits and Jamaica flowers. With Jamaica I like the mix potent. Deep red and capable of puckering the lips. A strong taste relationship to cranberry (arandano).

[Talleyho69]

We have just returned from shopping in town, and the tunas are everywhere, in several colors. We bought a bunch to play with!

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I just picked up a heavy-heavy molcajete (mortar & pestle) at COSTCO for 299 pesos. Neatly packaged. Sad but true...made in China, imported to the USA then again to Mexico.

From the Oaxaca ladies...

Only one way to break in a new molcajete...

One cup of raw rice into the bowl

Start mashing and dragging the pestle

The rice grains need to be crushed to flour

And your arms are going to feel like they're falling off.

If it takes sessions over two or three days to make rice flour

Then so be it.

Dump and then wash out the flour with water.

Every Mexican lady I asked about this was adamant about the "seasoning" of the bowl.

No rice? Use rock salt.

Blender? Ni modo. Blenders do not crush

Guacamole has never tasted better, use tostadas instead of totopos (corn chips) tostadas have no salt or artificial garbage and they taste like corn not cardboard.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Want minced onion?

Chop top and bottom so onion sits flat and stable.

A large kitchen knife has the weight to do this. Razor sharp works best

Remove dried skin from outside

Start whacking the onion like you have a hatchet

Strong whacks. Sink the knife in over an inch

Make forty parallel cuts across the vegetable

Then rotate it ninety degrees

Start at the outside and work in -- both sides

Another forty parallel whacks

Turn onion on it's side and slice across the whacks -- thin slices

When you slice down into the yet to be whacked part of the onion start whacking again.

This is way faster than the old-fashioned way.

And remember tomates saladetes (Roma tomatoes) cut easier from the flesh to the skin.

[ReneeG]

I grew up on eating fresh nopalitos that my parents cooked and enjoying the tuna with my favorites being the yellow and orange ones. My dad knew when they were just right for eating. Today, because we are nowhere near a place to harvest them, we buy bottled nopalitos. They're delicious straight out of the jar or as one said before scrambled with eggs which is probably the most common way to make them. Delicious and super nutritious.

[Talleyho69]

We like our nopales on salads.

Spines, of any kind???? TAPE!!! After being eBay people, tape was and still is a major part of our lives. I looked at him this morning and suggested that the dog chewed tape gun (one of three) goes away. Are you kidding? It's his favorite, we can get rid of one of the others.

Remember, we live in Mexico full time now, don't ship, have 10 rolls of three different types of tape. It's all good!

Food, drink, goodies, we love them all and love to try them all at least once!

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Neat navegator!

If you should touch a tuna or a pitahaya (that's what the deep purple ones are called) that hasn't been peeled, the only remedy that works is to lightly and very rapidly brush the stuck part of your hand over your hair. It takes a full minute or two. But it will remove the offending spines.

The paddles of nopal can be skinned then the green center diced to pea-sized cubes. I heat a pan of water to boiling then dump the cubes in for a minute. This rids of cactus of the slimy texture. Rinse under cold water. Stir fry the "nopalitos" until they turn yellow or golden. Scrambled into eggs (Nopalitos con huevos revueltos) is maybe my favorite scrambled eggs preparation.


Having fish? Fish with bones?
Have a nice ripe banana handy.
What?
Let's assume someone didn't gulp a big big bone. That's first aid time at the clinic.

Hacking, gagging coughing.
Bite off an inch of the banana
Form it round with your tongue
Then swallow
95% of the time this fixes the problem
If not, a second try is sure to work.

Both of the above were shown to me by Mexican matriarchs.


Great going navegator! To be in Mexico is fabulous. To partake of unique foods is to come even closer to the country and the people. Jesus says to me. "Vamanos! Let's go! You can have your tacos al pastor!"